Curious
by Vernon Danforth
Summary: You know what they say about curiosity.


Exploration.

Mankind, or mobian kind in this case, will never stop exploring things. Figuring them out. Finding out what makes them work the way they do.

It's the nature of a curious being to try and understand.

To try and understand the light.  
To try and understand the dark.  
To try and understand the cloudy area in between.

This is interesting and relevant. Exploring exploration itself.

After all, it's important to learn how these things work.

* * *

**April 3**

"Sarah! SARAH!"

"Mrs. Danforth?"

"SARAH!"

"Stop!"

The red fox's voice goes hoarse. Tearing, as if paper.

"Sarah.."

Her fight has died, and she falls to her knees. Sobbing uncontrollably, she is approached by the disgruntled walrus.

"Miss, you've gotta get back to Knothole, alright?"

"I" wheeze "have" wheeze "to" wheeze, cough, wheeze "find my" sniffle "daughter"

"Listen to me, alright? You're husband is out there right now, alright? He's looking for her, okay? We even got a whole team after her, including Sonic the hedgehog."

She sniffs, and looks up at him. Eyes full of tears. Head full of self-loathing.

She's never felt so useless.

"There needs to be someone at your home, okay? In case she comes back."

She nods, and takes his hand.

Sobbing, she turns to him for support. Both mental and physical.  
"Don't worry, miss" he whispers to her, as they begin to walk back through the woods to the colony. "We stick together here. One of us go missing, we'll find them."

* * *

**April 2**

"Curious" the young fox mumbles to himself, tinkering away at some new fangled gadget. Taking it apart, and rebuilding it. So he can understand.

One might wonder what he's tinkering with. The process, perhaps. But it doesn't matter. We aren't exploring the gadget; he is. We are currently exploring exploration. The look on that of the nine year old fox is sheer wonder.

Concentration mixed with excitement.

When it's put back together, he sighs. He pushes the button on it.

It works. His face lights up, and he starts clapping and giggling.

Pure excitement.

But he still doesn't get it. He's solved the puzzle. He knows where the pieces fit, but he still doesn't know exactly how they make the gizmo work.

It's with this, that he starts to take it apart again. This time he can go even further. Now that he knows what goes where.

Little by little, he proceeds to break it down more and more. Slowly but surely he will explore the device further.

Getting closer and closer to understanding.

* * *

After looking at the exploration someone has accomplished, one might look to the explorer.

Let's take a look.

Miles Prower is an extraordinary fox.

The boy is extremely intelligent for his age, and unlike most children his age, he loves learning new things.

He knows very well by this point that there is an infinite sea of knowledge out there, well beyond any one individual's comprehension.

While this frightens and intimidates some, he finds it humbling.

Most of all he likes understanding the world around him.

He would ask questions, if he had anyone he felt he could ask. He thought he had a friend once. A friend and a hero.

One he looked up to.

But Sonic the hedgehog was very busy. Too busy for someone as unimportant as the one he called Tails.

Tails.

Miles hated the name. But it was one he endured.

* * *

Sitting in the mess hall. As crowded as the place is, he still remains alone.

Completely alone.

He doesn't mind. Not anymore.

Used to tear him up. Before he could accept the fact that people were simply unable to accept them.

Miles felt superior in that respect. As if he was the greater being. The better man, so to speak.

More evolved perhaps.

Sipping his apple juice, he recalls the way he used to resent not only them, but himself.

Harmless insults thrown at him. At his tails.

The people around him talk amongst themselves. Mindless chatter at high volumes in mass quantity creates confusion.

Discomfort.

A crawling sensation underneath his skin.

The noise doesn't stop. It only gets louder.

More obnoxious.

Grinding his teeth, sweat beads down from his forehead. His head hurts. He can't think.

He can never think when it gets like this.

His breathing is loud and wet.

He stands up and runs out of the room, leaving his juice behind. Nobody notices.

* * *

The mirror glares back at him.

His reflection staring him in the eye.

Grinning at it, as always. He's such a happy child.

Now that he can concentrate, he can pick up where his mind left off.

The people around him aren't able to accept Tails for what he is.

Eccentric. No, unique.

Different.

Most people simply can not accept something they don't understand. They hate it. Speak out against it. Attempt to destroy it.

Many times, the destruction is achieved.

Sometimes, they are destroyed by what they don't understand. The fate they were attempting to avoid. I wonder, would they have met this fate, had it not been provoked?

Miles never understood this nonsense.

"I don't get it…" Miles recited to his reflection, his grin growing wider. "Have it destroyed!"

He doubles over the sink, giggling wildly to himself.

Mobians are so amusing. So very amusing.

"Such mysteries, they all are." His grin fading away, as his head lifts back up just high enough to meet his own reflection. The curious little boy closes in to the mirror, his cold reflection pressing gently against his muzzle. His brow narrowing as he studies his own face. His own eye, up close.

"I wonder what makes them tick."

* * *

**April 3**

It is somewhere around two in the morning, and Knothole is completely silent all around.

Except for a distant noise.

Like a spade meeting dry soil. Over and over again.

* * *

**April 4**  
_9:10 P.M._

A knock on the door.

"Come in" the princess sighs, averting her attention from the papers on her desk to the door.

The knob turns, and the door opens inward. Sonic the hedgehog pushes his way through the door frame. His face is stone.

"Do you bring news?"

He nods and sits. He looks down at his sneakers.

There is a moment of silence.

"And….?"

"She's dead. We found her body buried about a mile south of the ring pool. I haven't… notified the parents yet."

She takes a moment to collect herself, having a bit of trouble comprehending the load that was just dumped on her.

She feels frozen, as if splashed with ice water.

"I see."

"That isn't all."

"Oh?"

Her voice is breaking. The response is not even heard by Sonic. He continues anyway.

"Tails is missing, too. Nobody has seen him since yesterday, and I'm afraid he's already-"

The stone cracks. His voice breaks.

The mighty hero.

He can't go on like this. He actually starts to cry, right there in front of her.

For the first time in ages, princess Sally has no idea what to do.

_9:12 P.M._

* * *

**April 2**

She was always alone. Like he was.

People made fun of her for a different reason. She only had one functioning eye.

They called her cyclops. One-eye. The pirate.

They laughed and joked their harmless humor. But as harmless as their words really were, they effected her.

All alone she would play in this field, with her doll.

But never before had Miles noticed her. Not like this.

How beautiful she is.

She runs through the field, her doll snugly in her arms, laughing and smiling.

She suddenly plops down, disappearing into the tall grass. Miles makes his way from the forest he watches from, out into the field. Out into the open. Carrying a bright red plastic lunchbox in his right hand

He doesn't say a word as he approaches her, laying in the field. He doesn't need to.

The crunching leaves that accompany his footsteps say it all.

Her head pops up out of the tall grass, as she notices his presence.

She is the first one to make contact.

"Hey!"

"Hi."

He's suddenly shy, as he makes his way towards her. His left hand meets his right wrist, as both arms and the lunchbox disappear behind his back.

"I was wondering.." he starts, but trails off and looks away.

"What?"

"Never mind. It's stupid."

"No! Tell me. Please?"

"Well, I was wondering if you might want to play 'doctor' with me?"

"Doctor? What's that?" the little red fox inquired. Running the tips her fingers through the red fur on the top of her head.

"It's a really fun game."

"What kind of game?"

"Exploration. Here. Follow me this way. Let me show you."

_7:00 P.M._

That's what the watch on his wrist said.

Crunching leaves echo through the quiet forest, as he leads the way deeper into the forest.

"What kind of exploration?"

"Hm?"

Miles stops, and drops to his knees. His back turned. He bends over the forest floor, and plucks something from the mess of leaves and soil.

"I mean, what are we exploring? Do you even know?"

"Oh, that's easy"

He stands and turns back to her. Making his way to her, almost gliding, he quickly cuts in close; his face right next to hers. Confused, she just stands there as his breath blows gently against her ear.

She shivers.

"I'm going to be exploring you."

"Huh?"

* * *

**MEDICAL REPORT**

In the case of Sarah Danforth

_Patient seems to have received around five blows to the head with some sort of blunt object. An incision down the center of the patient's stomach had been sewed back up. After further investigation, it was discovered that every last organ was removed, and placed roughly back in the same spot._

* * *

She begins to back away, when suddenly she is struck with the stone Miles has firmly grasped in his left hand.

The blow brings her down. Immediately he is on top of her, as the rock makes contact with her skull again and again.

Suddenly she's still. Completely still.

The only sound being his panting. His heavy breathing.

He gets up, and walks back over to his lunchbox. Kneeling before it, he opens it, revealing the contents to be a pair of scissors and a needle and thread.

Grabbing the scissors, he stands and makes his way back over to Sarah.

Opening the scissors, he brings one of the blades down hard on her stomach, just below her belly button, to the left. Stabbing it in all the way down to the adjacent blade.

He giggles madly, as he grips the handle correctly.

His face lit with excitement as he closes the scissors with difficulty. Blood gushing to the surface on both sides of the blade. The scissors are closed, and the skin is separated. This is repeated, all the way up to her chest, when he meets difficulty with the rib cage.

"Let's see how you work."

He pulls out what feels to him like a mile of small intestine, as he drops it into a disgusting pile next to the body.

Exploration. Discovery.

"We're learning. Learning."

What he never considered, was the fact that he would not be able to put her back together.

To make her work again.

Still, though. There were plenty of other subjects.


End file.
